Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a water-cooled intercooler system using an air conditioning system and a method of controlling the intercooler system and more particularly, to a water-cooled intercooler system using the air conditioning system to enhance cooling efficiency of the water-cooled intercooler and a method of controlling the intercooler system.
Description of Related Art
In general, a turbocharger is a supercharging structure that compresses intake air to be supplied to an intake manifold of an engine by means of discharging force of exhaust gas and supplies the compressed intake air into cylinders so that it enhances efficiency of charging intake air of the engine and also increases a mean effective pressure and thereby increases output.
Such a turbocharger is of a structure that a conventional compressor and a turbine are arranged on a coaxial line, the turbine is forced to rotate by means of discharging force of exhaust gas discharged through an exhaust pipe and thus the compressor arranged on the coaxial line with the turbine is forced to rotate, and thereby inflow air flowing through an intake manifold is compressed and supplied into cylinders.
Meanwhile, since the air compressed by the turbocharger as described above is heated to a higher temperature, if such air is fed into combustion chambers as it is, an increasing rate of air density decreases and thus, it is likely to decrease the charging efficiency or cause knocking. It is an intercooler that is provided to lower temperature of the supercharged air. FIGS. 1 and 2 show diagrams for illustrating a conventional intercooler respectively. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, intake air cooled while passing through the intercooler is maintained at a high density and cooled down to a lower temperature and thereby combustion performance is increased.
The intercooler is typically divided into an air-cooled intercooler and a water-cooled intercooler depending on cooling types. The air-cooled intercooler is of a structure that the supercharged air is forced to be cooled by cold air passing through cooling pins formed integrally on a multiple of tubes while it passes through the multiple of tubes. On the contrary, the water-cooled intercooler is of a structure that the supercharged air is forced to be cooled by means of a coolant flow circuit that is in contact with the tubes.
In general, there is a problem that the air-cooled intercooler has good cooling efficiency, but it is difficult to expect stable efficiency due to changes in ambient temperature. Accordingly, a recent trend is that applications of the water-cooled intercooler are increased. However, there was a problem in the water-cooled intercooler in that although it can maintain stable efficiency, its cooling efficiency is lower than that of the air-cooled intercooler.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.